ACE Montessori Enriched Home Preschool, Cobourg
---- Where Independence and Character are Nurtured----
Arithmetic
Montessori's Arithmetic presentations provide children with a hands-on method for understanding symbols (numbers) and quantities with materials. The games have intriguing names and focus on counting and order.
The Arithmetic work caters to a child's Sensitive Periods, as most of the materials are small, involve movement, order, and language.
A child moves through the lessons at their individual pace, as introduced by their teacher. The child is able to explore numbers in a hands-on and interesting manner, without paper and pencil being introduced until later in their learning. The focus is on the child understanding the concept, rather than always being accurate in his or her answer, until five years old.
The works the children complete fall under the following headings: Numbers to Ten, Decimal System, Teens and Tens ( Teens, Tens, Counting), Exploration and Memorization of Tables and Passage to Abstraction.
Examples of Arithmetic Activities & their Importance in Child Development
Number Rods and Number Cards
This activity allows for the child to associate the written symbol (number) to the quantity. It also allows the child to practice arranging the rods in sequential order. ( Arithmetic Album 7)
To complete the first lesson, the child is shown a number card and asked to name the symbol and then find the matching number rod and arrange both materials in sequential order from one to ten.
A child of four years old and older is shown this work.
This activity falls under Numbers to Ten.
Formation of Large Number Cards with Beads
This activity allows for the child to associate quantities in combination with symbols, as well as a beginning understanding of place value and vocabulary (unit bead, ten bars, hundred squares and thousand cube). (Arithmetic Album 18)
An example from this lesson is asking a child to bring a quantity that matches a number card given by the teacher.
A child of four and a half and older is shown this work.
This activity falls under the Decimal System.
Combination of Quantities and Symbols 10-90 with ten bars and board
This activity teaches the names twenty, thirty, forty, etc and to associate the name with the quantity and the numeral. It also prepares the child for skip counting. ( Arithmetic Album 26)
To complete this lesson, the child is asked to name the numerals and is shown how to place the matching number of ten bars beside it.
A child of four and a half to five years old is shown this lesson.
This activity falls under Teens and Tens-- Tens.
Skip Counting
This activity helps a child's comprehension of counting, it is a beginning link to multiplication and helps to prepare a child for squaring and cubing. ( Arithmetic Album 31)
During this activity, the child is shown how the tickets (numbers) are placed under the chain and arranged in order from units, tens and hundreds. The tickets are then placed pointing to a specific bead on the chain and are later counted to show how skip counting works.
A child of five years old and older is shown this work.
This activity falls under Teens and Tens- Counting.
The Stamp Game-- Addition
This activity helps to strengthen a child's understanding of addition. ( Arithmetic Album 43)
A child is shown how to add numbers together using small 'stamps' which are manipulated and moved around as the question is solved. Static Addition, then Dynamic Addition (with exchanges) , are introduced.
A child of five years old is shown this work.
This activity falls under the Decimal System.
Relevant Current Scientific Research & how it validates Dr. Montessori's principles
In 2015, Elida V. Laski and others wrote an article entitled "What Makes Mathematic Manipulatives Effective? Lessons from Cognitive Science and Montessori Education". While manipulatives are widely used in Math lessons all over the world, it was Dr. Maria Montessori who first recognized the importance of hands-on learning with simple manipulatives. The researchers explore the best way to use Math manipulatives and describe how the Montessori use of manipulatives offers a best case example and explains: "the high levels of Mathematical achievements among children who attend Montessori schools during early childhood."
In Arithmetic, children learn from concrete examples to abstract. They are challenged and engaged with interesting works that use small, colour-coded and simple manipulatives while practising addition, subtraction, multiplication, division with The Stamp Game and The Dot Game, among others.